Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 31
India is finally gearing up for autopsies on patients succumbing to Covid-19 infection to understand the biology of the disease and the range of organ damage it causes.
In all recent meetings of Covid-19 national task forces, the government is learnt to have nudged the centres of medical excellence in India — AIIMS, New Delhi, AIIMS-like institutes and PGI Chandigarh — to start conducting postmortems on Covid-19 deceased and advance the knowledge on pathophysiology of the infection.
'Brain stroke new complication'
- Experts say postmortems must to understand the disease earlier seen as respiratory but progressively involving other organs, including the brain
- Govt pins hopes on PGI, Chandigarh, and AIIMS, Delhi
- Thrombosis and brain stroke are new complications being seen. The virus is also damaging the nerves in the nostrils leading to the loss of sense of smell, says expert
The urgency stems from new knowledge acquired through postmortem examinations in other countries that show Covid-19, primarily seen as a respiratory illness, is now involving other organs, including the brain and heart.
Chairman, Centre's Empowered Group on Medical Management of Covid-19, VK Paul today said there was an expectation that top medical colleges and hospitals would start conducting autopsies now.
"Autopsy studies are of fundamental importance to our deeper understanding of this new disease. Centres of excellence in India must urgently conduct high-quality autopsy studies to unravel the pathophysiology of the Indian Covid-19. This will provide unique insights into how best to treat the infection that appears to lead to multi-system pathology involving other organs. Ideally, a multi-centre research collaborative should be formed for this priority so that clinically relevant comprehensive knowledge and insights are available in a matter of few weeks," Paul said.
The US, China, Italy, Germany and Austria have conducted several Covid-19 autopsies which have shown that though Covid-19 was earlier seen as a respiratory condition it is also damaging the thin layer of cells lining blood vessels in turn causing clotting complications, hypoxia and multi-organ failure.
"There is now evidence that pneumonia linkage of Covid-19 may be lesser than believed. Thrombosis and brain stroke are new complications being seen. The virus is also damaging the nerves in the nostrils leading to the loss of sense of smell," Paul added.
"This is a golden opportunity for pathologists to advance the understanding of science. We are upgrading our infrastructure to facilitate Covid-19 autopsies," PGI Director Jagat Ram said.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2XiB3EM
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